Overview of Db2 Object Comparison Tool

IBM® Db2 Object Comparison Tool for z/OS® (also referred to as Object Comparison Tool) compares the definitions of existing Db2 for z/OS objects from different sources and reports the differences. Object Comparison Tool can subsequently synchronize these sources by making the relevant changes to the objects. Additionally, Object Comparison Tool is a required prerequisite for using the Change Management function of IBM Db2 Administration Tool for z/OS (Db2 Admin Tool).
Important: Start of changeDb2 Object Comparison Tool 13.1 (5655-CH1) is available only as part of IBM Db2 Change Management Solution Pack for z/OS 1.2 (5655-CH1) and IBM Db2 Administration Solution Pack for z/OS 3.3 (5697-ASP). Object Comparison Tool is no longer available as a standalone product.End of change
Specifically, Db2 Object Comparison Tool can help you with the following goals:
  • Keep your production system a mirror image of your test and development systems.

    New applications, changes to existing applications, or mistakes can cause Db2 objects in one system to have different attributes from objects in other systems. Object Comparison Tool can find differences between objects (and dependent objects) in a Db2 catalog on one system and a Db2 catalog on a different system. Object Comparison Tool can then generate batch jobs to synchronize the catalogs.

  • Compare objects with different names.

    Often, production objects and test objects use different naming conventions. You can account for these naming differences by using a feature in Object Comparison Tool called masks. With masks, object names can be translated before a comparison. Therefore, a test object can be matched to the corresponding production object for comparison. For example, if you want to compare all tables that begin with TEST to all tables that begin with PROD, you can define a mask that tells Object Comparison Tool to translate table names TEST* to PROD* for the comparison. (In this example, the asterisk is a wild card character.)

  • Ignore specific properties when comparing objects.

    You might not want your test objects to be exactly the same as your production objects. Object Comparison Tool can handle these intentional differences when comparing objects. To specify that the tool ignore certain attributes, such as the number of partitions in a table space or the storage group for a database, use the ignore fields feature.

  • Produce reports about the object comparison.

    Depending on the reporting options, Object Comparison Tool produces a variety of reports to show the differences between the objects.

  • Apply any changes to the target objects.

    Object Comparison Tool can generate jobs that apply any requested changes to the target objects. To request such jobs, use the generate apply jobs function. Alternatively, you can request that these changes be generated to a work statement list (WSL) that you can subsequently use to apply changes to the target objects. WSLs make it easy to propagate changes to remote sites.

  • Track changes.

    Changes can be imported into the Change Management Database to help you manage the process of recording and tracking the changes that you make to your objects.

  • Undo implemented changes

    If you made changes and need to revert to the original state of the objects, Object Comparison Tool can revert those changes for you. The undo capability of the tool can restore application objects to a previous version.